Charlie Story
Before he was "Cursed Charlie": Cursed Charlie was not always referred to as "Cursed" Charlie, many years back, long before he turned pirate, he was simply referred to as Charlie... His moniker of "Cursed" was a result of years of misfortune and poor luck, constant disasters in both his personal and profesional life. It all begun way back when he was just a very young boy, travelling with his parents, as slaves aboard a merchant ship, which had set sail from Africa, bound for England. The ship was spotted and set upon by a small armada of pirate sloops, the Captain of this merchant ship, an older, weathered gentleman, had considerable experience both in naval techniques and combat. This was not the first time the Captain had encountered pirates, however it was to be his last, despite his reconcilaitory Navigation Skills and Naval Combat experience, his ship was overwhelmed and sunk. Most of the Crew and Slaves were scooped out of the water by the pirates and offered the opportunity to serve as pirates, Charlie however was not spotted by the pirates, clinging to a piece of timber from the merchant ships wreck and as a result he was left to drift with the tides. Fortunately, after spending several days, clinging to that wrecked piece of timber, a Navy Man-O-War came passing by, a young deck hand with a keen eye, being taught to use a Sextant by the ships Navigator, spotted Charlie from the corner of his eye. The alarm was raised for a man overboard, the Captain ordered the ship be brought about, a long boat launched and the young man hauled aboard. Charlie was not in a good way when he was initially dragged out of the water, fatigued and malnourished from his ordeal, the Captain of the Man-O-War ordered he be taken imediately to the infirmary, for the ships Surgeon to attend to. It was several days before the Captain approached Charlie to find out who he was and why he was adrift, clinging to a piece of timber, which appeared to have come from a ship. Being but a young boy, a slave no less, Charlie only knew Charlie as his name, no Surname or Family origins, but was able to regail the Captain of the pirates laying siege to the ship, which he and his parents were aboard, bound for England. The Captain, satisfied with the information provided, informed Charlie that he would indeed be afforded passage to England, upon completion of the ships tour of duty, rounding up and sinking pirate ships. Several months Charlie sailed aboard that Navy Man-O-War, he was trained to serve as a simple Deck Hand, given food, shelter and a bunk made free by the unfortunate passing of it's previous occupant. During this time, Charlie proved most eager to please, learn and improve. Unfortunately, he also proved to have an uncanny knack for misaps and misfortune ; Twice his clumsiness resulted in fires in the Forward Powder Magazine, Thrice he managed to secure rigging so poorly that a mast almost tore free from the ship and on many more occasions he managed to spill hot beverages onto members of the ships crew, scolding them. His misfortunes had the crew give him the moniker of "Unlucky Charlie", a precurser to his current moniker. Finally, safely making it's way to England, the Man-O-War encountered one final obstacle while actually porting, with Charlie managing to drop the ships Port side anchor through the longboat launched to take the first detatchment of crew ashore. The laughter ashore could be clearly heard by the crew both still aboard the ship and in the water, the Captain being one of those in the water immediately ordered Charlie be given ten lashes as soon as he was ashore. Despite being reprimanded and lashed for his actions, Charlie was not to be deterred, immediately after receiving his lashing, he made his way to the enlistment tent of the Fort to sign up. The Navy Days: After being accepted into the Kings Navy, Charlie was provided basic training in handling both a Sword and a Gun. Of course, this training didn't even manage to go off without any hiccups, managing to constantly cut both himself and his trainers on numerous occasions, never while actually wielding his sword aggressively. As for his Gun training, he managed to start a record number of fires with both Pistol and Musket, had constant problems with exploding gun barrels and even twice managed to have a gun misfire. until the trainer had it appropriately pointed at themself, resulting in one trainer meeting an unfortunate end, the other escaping with the loss of his left eye. After serving his first term on land, Charlie felt the need to again feel the seas spray on his face, and so put in for a transfer to a Sailing position. Iitially he was turned down, but was fortunate (or unfortunate) a position became available, aboard a Navy Bullwark. The ships Captain, though quite experienced, and having considerable influence, having heard of Charlie, and his by this time, already considerable run of misfortune, felt sympathy for him, and requested he be assigned as a Deck Hand aboard his ship. Excited at his first sea bound assignment, Charlie managed, on his way to the ship, to bump into a barrel of gunpowder on the docks, but with his misfortune, he could not escape with just bumping into the barrel of gunpowder. NO! He also managed to collect an elderly man, sitting, smoking a cigar and peacefully fishing ; Of course the mans lit cigar was sent flying, straight into the barrel of gunpowder, which Charlie had conveniently knocked the lid off, with the end result of a sizeable hole being blown into the dock and the unfortunate sinking of a Light Sloop moored close by. With the tone already set for his first sea bound adventure, it took very little time for the incidents to begin, first it was a fire in the ships Galley, then an unfortunate mid-deck collision between two crew members, sending one unfortunate Deck Hand overboard for a swim, followed by a poorly tied knot which resulted in a mast snapping off in a storm. The final disaster however, occured when the ships Captain made a fateful decision, to send Charlie below decks to fetch a bottle of Rum. This required Charlie to make his way, down stairs, through the Powder Magazine and into the ships cellar with a lantern. Who could possiby have forseen that he would trip down the stairs, sending the lantern flying through the open door to the Powder Magazine, landing directly in a barrel of Gunpowder, which of course ignited, exploded and sunk the ship? Fortune though, would again smile on Charlie, as within hours this time, the Navigator of a passing East India Trading Company Bloodhound, spotted him in the water and ordered the crew to bring him aboard. The Captain, once roused from his sleep, immediately demanded Charlie regail him with all the details of Who he was and Why a member of the Kings Navy was drifting at sea. Obviously he was none too impressed when Charlie informed him, the reason his ship was sunk, was because he had accidentally set off a Cannon. Despite this, he was provided safe passage to land, not England but rather a Port near Singapore, which was controlled by the East India Trading Company, where he was enlisted (with or without his consent). Serving the EITC: Now a Grunt working for the East India Trading Company, Charlie was given some more refined training in swordsmanship. Despite continued mishaps and poor fortune, over several months his sword skills improved considerably, eventually satsifying his superiors that he was ready to return to the seas. His first East Insia Trading Company assignment at sea, was aboard a Marauder, not just any Marauder, a Marauder with a long and distiguished record. This particular ship was responsible for sending countless pirates to Davy Jones Locker, it was Captained by a fierce and formiddable, ruthless and unforgiving man. Of course you could be forgiven for thinking this would end well for Charlie, instead however, just three weeks out from Port, just off the coast of Singapore, the Marauder came upon a pirate ship, a Galleon, with a cunning Captain and some of the finest Gunners in the Caribbean. Both Captains spotted their opponents at roughly the same time, both Captains also had it in their respective minds to take the other ship as a prize, so both Captains ordered their crews to Come About and engage the enemy. With neither Captain particularly interested in Sinking their opponent, both begun a series of maneuvers to attempt to gain an advantage against the other, meanwhile ordering their Cannon Crews to fire upon the enemy ship, but without intent to sink, rather to try and cripple for Boarding. The battle lasted for several hours, the Marauder and pirate ship trading maneuvers and cannon fire, both ships listing and taking on water from damage sustained. Both Captains determine to take the opposing ship as a prize, ordered their Deck Hands to the armory for Muskets and Gunners to load Grapples. Coming about a final time, the Deck Hands were ordered to Open Fire, sweeping the enemy ships deck with Musket Fire, while the Cannoneers were ordered to Launch Grapples. Both ships were firmly attatched and brought side by side within a matter of minutes, with the Naval Battle over, the Boarding Parties were dispatched by both Captains and the ring of clashing Swords filled the air. The fight was over fairly quickly, the Marausers Crew proving no match for the seasoned pirates, and so the surviving crew of the Marauder were given the opportunity to turn pirate or walk the plank. There were no surprises when the Captain made Port in Singapore, despite his reputation for good judgement, excellent fortunes and sixth sense for Loot and Plunder, several of his Crew still elected to leave the ship. Charlie had by this time, become some what of a Legend of the Seas, for all the wrong reasons, his exploits had leaked from both the Navy and East India Trading Company. Charlie turns Pirate: Once again the "Curse" would strike, on his maiden voyage from Singapore to the Caribbean, while passing by the coast of Outcast Isle, the ship was set upon by a Behemoth. Despite all the Captains experience and the crews considerable skill, Charlies misfortune again proved too much, the Behemoth proved far too much and poor "Cursed" Charlie found himself once more clinging to a clump of wood, bobbing in the ocean. Naturally, that was not the end for Charlie, instead it was a fresh beginning... For Sailing and Plundering not too far away, was none other than the infamous pirate Captain, Kriss Wild Wolf! Seeing the Behemoth set upon this pirate ship with no apparant reason nor warning, enraged Kriss, who immediately grabbed the wheel of his War Frigate, brought it about and engaged the Behemoth, sinking it very quickly. With his hold fairly full, his ship having by this time sustained considerable damage, and a sudden desire to fight a certain Corrupt Stump Boss, Kriss ordered his First Mate to bring his ship in near to shore and make anchor. While rowing his dinghy ashore with a small detatchment of crew, Kriss spotted Charlie in the water and rowed over to him, pulled him out of the water and continued to shore. Safely ashore on Outcast Isle, Kriss introduced himself to Charlie, who introduced himself as Cursed Charlie, before spending a considerable time telling his story. Upon completion of which, Kriss offered Charlie passage to Port Royal, his friendship, and an extended offer. If he ever needed to look him up, for any reason, he need only pay a visit to Cuba and a voodoo practicioner named Tia Dalma. The rest you could say, is history... Of course Charlie made his way to Cuba, of course he looked up Tia Dalma, and of course he joined Kriss Guild Caribbean Curse. return to - Cursed Charlie ***** ***** return to - Caribbean Curse Wiki Category:Stories